The Man Who Moved a Mountain

Bob Childress, The Pastor Who Tamed Buffalo Mountain

Today we think of gang violence downtown and forget that once there was gunfire in the small communities of Southwestern Virginia. Bob Childress was a hard-drinking, hard fighting resident of that region where the poverty of subsistance living was made more bearable, it was thought, by escaping to alcohol. Bob's parents drank heavily and fought constantly.

But Childress went to a revival meeting and found something more powerful than the spirits in a bottle. He sought to bring the Spirit of the Lord to his hurting community. Though his education was pretty basic, he managed to go to Union Seminary in Richmond and struggled through. He became a much sought after speaker and was offered a very comfortable position with a large church... and he turned it down. Buffalo Mountain was his calling from G-d and he returned to his community and started a number of churches. His Sunday was a marathon as he made the journey to preach at each congregation.

His Story is Told in Glimpses of Christian History Here and we learn that Bob faced the daunting task of bringing the message of G-d's love to a community steeped in fatalistic despair. The churches he founded are testimony of what can be accomplished by a life lived for a greater purpose.

Richard C. Davids tells his story in The Man Who Moved a Mountain, a stirring book. Davids goes on to describe how Childress continued his ministry while caring for his daughter Hattie, who was severely disabled. When Bob's wife died, he took on such tasks as boiling the wash water for diapers and such.

Lives like that of Bob Childress challenge me.